River Fog, Looking towards Montreal from St. Helen's Island, 1883 (August 8)

Skilfully depicted by the brush of William Raphael and painted in 1883, this scene documents a view looking toward Montreal and the port during a time of rapid development and industrialization. It serves as a visual record of the contrast of a bucolic and tranquil countryside against the background of a dynamic, growing expansion of the city.  

One should be reminded that at this time, Montreal was the business centre for Canada. This underlines the importance of the industrialization in the city at the time including, manufacturing, building of factories, deepening of the waterway between Montreal and Quebec City, increased use of steam engines and extension of the railway all combining to pave the path toward a new and modern era. The impact of these developments were to spread nationwide.

William Raphael (1833- 1914) was one of the foremost artists of the last half of the 19th century active in Canada. Raphael was born in Prussia to parents who were Orthodox Jews of Polish descent. According to original research by Sharon Goelman for Galerie Walter Klinkhoff in 1996 William Raphael arrived in Montreal via New York City on April 23, 1857. Raphael was the first artist of the Jewish faith to establish himself in Canada. Works of art by Raphael are represented in Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the National Gallery of Canada, the McCord Stewart Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Art Canada Institute has recently announced the publication of the online book William Raphael: Life & Work with a release date of November 2025. Researched and written by Pierre-Olivier Ouellet PhD, as a trailer, he has written 

"For Raphael to contribute so profoundly to the visual folklore of Quebec, receiving accolades for his representations of rural life and the modern urban reality, is no small feat. [...] [William Raphael] was one of the first members of the Royal Academy of Art in 1880. His unparalleled contributions to the visual folklore of Quebec have strengthened our understanding of nineteenth-century Canada.”